Ringer 1.22 'I'm the Good Twin'

So, here we are. There’s an overwhelming sense of regret to go along with Ringer’s finale. So many things of importance were finally given a chance to shine, but it was just too little too late. If this episode had happened 10 episodes earlier things would have been a lot different. Certain stories that had been the emotional crux of this whole story were what kept such a lifeless season alive, and if you look back on previous reviews, you’ll see just how positive and happy I was with it. Though they played a major role in this year’s climax, the one thing I had been waiting for, the one event that Ringer could have pulled out of the hat to make this episode the high point it should have been, didn’t even happen. Ugh.

In the season finale ‘I’m the Good Twin’, Bridget decides to come clean to Andrew and Juliet about who she really is. Meanwhile Henry finds out the results to his paternity test and Bodaway arrives in New York to track Bridget down.

Back in September we saw Bridget make a terrible, rash and panicked decision to save her own skin. Watching her deal with all of the crises of identity she suffered through were when the show really shined, and seeing her fall into someone else’s life so easily made her decision to come clean all the more painful. Bridget’s slow growing love for Andrew was the one plot that was almost always handled with ease, before Andrew’s personality transplant that is, but even after that it was always the perfect epitome of the bonkers situation Bridget was in.

Her confession had the effect you’d expect. Andrew was devastated, finding out the woman you thought you loved more than anything is someone else is quite unsettling, to say the least. It’s sad that the strong feelings he developed for Bridget didn’t play some kind of a role here, but after all of the cuckoo characterisation on his part recently, I’m glad he made a sensible and straight forward decision. Their romance was a beautiful plot, and one that suffered the least amount of clumsy writing, but it needed to go this way. I just wish it had happened sooner, like so much else.

Juliet’s reaction was even more complex. From the pilot we saw a strange connection between the life Bridget left behind, and Juliet; a disillusioned party girl with an appetite for the hard stuff. Seeing her and Bridget develop that connection, and forge a bond amidst that madness that was the past 22 episodes was weirdly comforting. Similar to Andrew, you’d expect her newfound love and respect for Siobhan (Bridget, whatever) to play some role here. Instead, she’s immediately blown off, and shunned by both of people she loves most. Like Andrew, Juliet was a character that underwent a number of personality shifts, but it all levelled out in the end, so her reaction, as that of a teenage girl living with the craziest group of people ever, is acceptable.

Bridget’s mistake was fuelled by a desperate need to escape Bodaway Macawi, so unfortunately we were stuck with his weird cardboard face for a whole season. The resolution here came about in an oddly exciting way. The final action sequence (which should have happened about 10 minutes earlier) was exactly the kind of thing this show should have attempted from the start. Mistaken identity, crazy gun fights and plain campiness poured out of this scene in abundance and in reality, this was exactly the right way to end this story, it’s just a shame it was dragged on this long.

And so we come to this episode’s biggest event. The one moment I (and I’m sure the 1 million odd other viewers) had been anticipating for 8 months...but it never happened. Bridget and Siobhan’s reunion was a massive thing, and I almost commend Ringer for drawing it out this long, but come on! It’s a clear cut case of the writers being way too afraid to play around with the show’s underlying narrative. I could say there’s always next season, but we all know there’s no chance of this show ever resurfacing.

Bridget’s intelligence has been an elusive creature, and the fact that it took her this long to piece the clues together about her sister’s death is laughable, but at least she got there in the end. There is a wonderful story of betrayal left in this show’s wake, and what direction Ringer could have taken next would have been interesting to watch unfold, or at least marginally so. With Siobhan’s sudden desire to reclaim her identity, and Bridget’s (slightly lifeless) appetite for revenge, we could have watched a battle supreme of the twins Kelly next year.

There’s so much more I could talk about, but I think a separate forum would be best. Ringer had a lot to go for it before it started; a fascinating premise, a strong cast and an amazing hook. Though it held my attention a lot of the time, it didn’t really reach the dramatic highs it could have, and it’s deflating to be sitting here thinking about all that this show could have accomplished if it was run by writers who could tell the difference between a shit and a piss, but I am...and there’s just one thing I can say:

Sarah deserved better than this.

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Reviewing this show has been such a strange experience, so scoring ‘I’m the Good Twin’ in a few separate ways seems more appropriate:

As an episode in its own right, ‘I’m the Good Twin’ was actually quite solid. Maybe for the February sweeps this could have been pretty spectacular. On that note:

9/10

As a season finale, this episode did leave me desperate to see more, but in a frustrating, not at all satisfying kind of way. The cliff-hanger was dull, but the episode’s events themselves did stand up for it in some respect.

6/10

As a series finale the whole thing was a bit of a mess. It’s unfair to score it this way, but given the ratings situation, some kind of resolution should have been on the writers’ minds. A lot got wrapped up, like the Bodaway stuff, but so much was left open ended and up in the air.

5/10

So...

7/10 (Give or take a decimal point)